These marbled spumoni cookies bring together pistachio, cherry, and chocolate—all in one eye-catching, chewy, ultra-colorful cookie. They’re soft-baked with slightly crisp edges, gorgeous swirls, and that nostalgic spumoni trio baked right into every bite.
Pistachio cookies… chocolate cookies… maraschino cherry cookies… all delicious on their own. But even better when you can have all 3 in 1 cookie! (By the way, have you tried the pistachio crinkle cookies or the chocolate-covered cherry cookies in Sally’s Baking 101? You should!)
What Is Spumoni?
Spumoni is a molded Italian dessert (originating in Naples) made from layers of pistachio, cherry, and chocolate gelato or ice cream. These cookies capture that classic flavor trio, but in a fun, chewy drop cookie form. Like my neapolitan cookies (chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry), this recipe starts with one base dough that gets divided and flavored three different ways. That method inspired today’s spumoni version, along with cookbook author Sarah Kieffer’s well-loved neapolitan sugar cookies.
Texture & Flavor Notes
- Texture: Chewy and soft in the center, lightly crisp around the edges.
- Flavor: The pistachio portion is nutty and sweet, thanks to real pistachios and almond extract. The cherry portion brings fruity sweetness and a pretty pop of color. The chocolate portion is deep, smooth, and slightly fudgy from the cocoa, chocolate chips, + cherry juice.
- Overall: Think of these as a fun, colorful mash-up with each bite tasting slightly different—sometimes chocolate-forward, sometimes pistachio, sometimes cherry. No two cookies look exactly the same… which is part of their charm.
Ingredients You Need for Spumoni Cookies:
For the base dough, you need these staple cookie ingredients:
- Flour: All-purpose flour is the base of this cookie recipe.
- Baking Powder & Baking Soda: To help the cookies puff up and spread out in the oven.
- Salt: Salt adds flavor and balances the sweetness.
- Butter: Creamed butter forms the base of these soft cookies. If you’re a beginner baker, here’s more on how to cream butter and sugar properly. Be sure to start with proper room-temperature butter—it’s cooler than you think!
- Granulated & Brown Sugar: We’re sweetening these cookies with both white and brown sugar, for the perfect mix of spread and soft texture.
- Egg + Egg Yolk: An egg binds everything together, and an extra yolk adds richness for extra-soft and chewy cookies.
- Vanilla: The base flavor on which to build all 3 cookie flavors!
For the flavors, you also need maraschino cherries, pistachios, almond extract, cocoa powder, and mini chocolate chips.
Mix together the base cookie dough. It’s a pretty thick dough at first, because we’ll mix it again with flavors. Divide it into 3 portions. You can eyeball it, or use a kitchen scale to keep things even.
Flavor the Cookie Doughs
To make each flavor, place one portion of dough back in the mixer along with the flavoring ingredients listed in the recipe below.
- Cherry: Chopped blotted maraschino cherries + flour + optional pink food coloring. For this we tested dried cherries, fresh cherries, and maraschino cherries. The strongest flavor, and most reminiscent to spumoni ice cream/gelato, is maraschino cherries.
- Pistachio: Ground pistachios + almond extract + optional green food coloring
- Chocolate: Dutch-process cocoa powder + maraschino cherry juice + mini chocolate chips. For this, we tested using milk, but the overall flavor of the cookie improved when we switched to maraschino cherry juice. (Which you’ll have anyway because of the cherries!)
Shape the Spumoni Cookies
We’re going to shape the cookies before refrigerating the dough today. Why? This particular cookie dough is a lot easier to work with when the dough is nice and pliable.
Success Tip: Roll the cherry dough balls first, then chill them in the refrigerator or freezer while you roll the other types of dough into balls. In testing, we found that the cherry dough spread more than the other two, so it benefits from a little extra chill time.
Roll small balls (about 15g each) of each type of cookie dough. You can place them on lined baking sheets while you’re working through rolling all the dough balls.
Once you have all your dough balls, grab one of each flavor, smush them together, and roll into one larger cookie dough ball (45g). You can marble them together as much or as little as you’d like.
Roll, Refrigerate, Then Bake
Roll the spumoni cookie dough balls into granulated sugar to coat each one, then place them all on a lined baking sheet.
Chill the dough balls before baking. You can refrigerate them for a minimum of 1 hour, or you can keep them in the fridge for up to 3 days and bake them fresh when you want them, even just a couple at a time!
Tips for Making Spumoni Sugar Cookies
Here are some tips we learned during testing:
- Cherry Dough Spreads: The cherry dough spreads more than the other 2, so make that one first so it can chill while you work on the others.
- Blot Moisture: Blot the maraschino cherries dry with a paper towel before you chop them.
- Food Scale: A food scale is a handy tool for dividing the dough into 3 equal pieces, and for portioning the cookie dough into equally sized balls.
- Best Chocolate Flavor: Use Dutch-processed cocoa powder for a smoother chocolate flavor. If you can’t find it, you can use natural cocoa powder instead. While I usually don’t recommend swapping natural for Dutch-process or vice versa, the amount is small enough in this recipe that it won’t affect the outcome of the cookies too much.
- Refrigerating is Key: Since these cookies are shaped while the dough is still soft and pliable, that 1-hour refrigerator rest ensures they bake thick and chewy instead of spreading thin.
- Color Intensity Varies: Because natural pistachios are muted and maraschino cherry juice can differ in brightness, your dough colors may look slightly different each batch and that’s normal. A touch of food coloring in those 2 flavors helps, but it’s optional.
This recipe is part of my annual cookie countdown called Sally’s Cookie Palooza. It’s the biggest, most delicious event of the year! Browse dozens of cookie recipes over on the Sally’s Cookie Palooza page.
Spumoni Cookies (Cherry, Pistachio, Chocolate)
- Prep Time: 1 hour, 45 minutes (includes chilling)
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours
- Yield: 22-24 cookies
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Chewy, colorful drop-style cookies inspired by classic spumoni: pistachio, cherry, and chocolate all swirled together in one soft, marbled drop-style cookie. Fun to make, beautiful to serve, and packed with flavor in every bite.
Ingredients
Base Cookie Dough
- 2 and 1/2 cups (313g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (12 Tbsp; 170g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Cherry:
- 1/4 cup (50g) maraschino cherries, drained, patted very dry, and finely chopped
- 3 Tablespoons (24g) all-purpose flour
- optional: 1 tiny drop pink gel food coloring (I did not use in the pictured cookies)
Pistachio:
- 1/2 cup (55g) ground pistachios
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
- optional: 1 tiny drop green gel food coloring
Chocolate:
- 2 Tablespoons (10g) Dutch-process cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons maraschino cherry juice, from the jar
- 1/3 cup (60g) mini chocolate chips
Topping
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
Instructions
- Make the base cookie dough: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar together on medium-high speed until creamed, about 3 minutes. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract, and beat on medium-high speed until combined. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and beat on low speed until incorporated, then increase to medium-high speed and beat until fully combined. The dough will be thick. Divide it into 3 equal portions.
- Make the cherry dough: Return one portion of dough to the mixing bowl. Add the chopped, blotted cherries, 3 Tablespoons flour, and pink gel food coloring (if using). Beat on medium speed until combined. Transfer the cherry dough to a bowl and refrigerate it while you prepare the remaining 2 doughs. Wipe the mixer bowl clean.
- Make the pistachio dough: Return another portion of dough to the mixing bowl. Add the ground pistachios, almond extract, and green gel food coloring (if using). Beat on medium speed until combined. Set aside. Wipe the mixer bowl clean.
- Make the chocolate dough: Return the final portion of dough to the mixing bowl. Add the cocoa powder, cherry juice, and mini chocolate chips. Beat on medium speed until combined. Set aside.
- Shape the cookies: Line baking sheets or large plates with parchment paper. Remove the cherry dough from the refrigerator. Scoop and roll it into small balls, about 15g each (a heaping 1/2 Tablespoon). Place on the lined baking sheet or plate, then refrigerate these cherry dough balls while you shape the pistachio and chocolate doughs. Repeat the shaping process with the pistachio and chocolate doughs, rolling all remaining dough into small balls, about 15g each.
- Topping: Place the granulated sugar for rolling in a small bowl or on a plate. Remove the cherry dough balls from the refrigerator/freezer. Press together 3 dough balls—1 of each flavor—and roll them into a single 45g cookie dough ball. Roll each marbled dough ball in the granulated sugar, then place on a lined baking sheet. Once all cookies are shaped and coated, cover and refrigerate the dough balls for at least 1 hour before baking (or up to 3 days). Chilling the shaped dough balls is imperative.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Arrange the chilled cookie dough balls 3 inches apart on the lined sheets, about 8 or 9 cookies per sheet.
- Bake until the edges are set but the centers still look soft, about 14–16 minutes. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: There are a few options here! You can prepare the dough balls (either the individual pistachio, cherry, and chocolate portions or the fully marbled 45g balls) up to 3 days in advance; cover tightly and refrigerate until ready to bake. To freeze, shape the marbled dough balls but don’t roll them in sugar yet. Freeze on a baking sheet until solid, then transfer to an airtight container or freezer bag for up to 3 months. When ready to bake, roll the frozen dough balls in granulated sugar and bake from frozen, adding an extra minute to the bake time. Read my tips and tricks on how to freeze cookie dough. You can also freeze the baked cookies for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before serving.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Silicone Spatula | Kitchen Scale | Food Processor (for pistachios) | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Medium Cookie Scoop | Cooling Rack
- Can I Make These Without Food Coloring? Yes. The cookies will still taste delicious, but the marbling contrast will be more subtle. A little color helps distinguish the flavors visually, but it’s optional.
- Can I Use Fresh or Dried Cherries Instead of Maraschino? Not for this recipe. Fresh or frozen cherries contain too much moisture and will change the texture of the dough. Dried cherries didn’t provide enough flavor. Maraschino cherries provide the right texture and signature spumoni flavor.
- Can I Use Different Nuts Instead of Pistachios? Pistachios give the most authentic spumoni flavor, but in a pinch, finely ground almonds or cashews work. Just note that the flavor will be slightly different.
- Can I Use Natural Cocoa Powder Instead of Dutch-Process? Yes, same amount. While I usually don’t recommend swapping natural for Dutch-process or vice versa, the amount is small enough in this recipe that it won’t affect the outcome of the cookies.
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
- Inspired by neapolitan shortbread cookies and Sarah Kieffer’s Neapolitan Cookies
